Improvement in parlor-skates



. UNITED .'S'IA'rusv PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID KERR AND ASA E. HOVEY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPRovEMENT IN PARLoR-sKATEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 117,643, dated August 1, 1871.

To all whom t may concern: v

Be it known that we,DAV1D KERR and ASA E. HOVEY, of the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain Improvements in Roller-Skates, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a side view, partly sectioned, of a skate having our improvements. Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same with one set of wheels, axle-tree, king-post, and tiller removed. is a perspective view ofthe axle-tree, axle-plate, king-post, and tiller.

Like letters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

The foot-piece A is made and fastened to the foot in any ofthe ordina-ry ways. To the under side of this foot-piece is fastened the rectangular and tiauched frame-plate B, by a single curved and rounded leg, C, with a screw through its foot at one end, and at the other end by the peculiarly-formed pair of legs D, with a screw through each foot. Between these legs is the fork E E, extending somewhat into the foot-piece. On the upper side ofthe frame-plate are two projections, one on each side of the hole F, whose base and position are indicated by the dotted lines in Fig.

,2. From their base upward they taper. They are pyramids roiuided at the corners. The axletree, composed of the steel axle G in the cylinder H, the axle-plate I having its face corresponding in size and form to that ofthe frame-plate B, the king-post J with a lug oneach side, and the tiller K as shown in perspective in Fig. 3, form a single solid piece. The hole F is of a width equal to the diameter of the key-post J, and long enough to allow the post with its lugs to pass through it and be turned to its place. When in place, that part of the king-post immediately beneath the lugs plays in the hole F, the lugs rest on the upper surface of the frame-plate in contact with the proj ections on that surface, and the extremity ofthe tiller slides in the fork E E, unlimited vertically. The frame-plate and the axle-plate are kept pressed apart by the rubber pad crowded between them at the time the parts are put together.

The ab ove-described improvements maybe used in ice-skates by attaching runners to the axles in stead of rollers. The wheels or rollers are of lig num-cme, box, or other very hard wood, and are hushed or boxed as follows: The wood for each wheel is blocked out somewhat thicker than the desired thickness ofthe wheels and clamped in a chuck or vises, or otherwise secured against splitting. A proper-sized hole is then bored through the center and a stron g tube of brass or other suitable metal driven tightly through the hole. The tube can then be reamed out truly and placed on a mandrel, and the roller turned with the utmost accuracy. A roller thus made will last much longer and run much easier than thosemade in the ordin ary way.

The operation is as follows: The king-post K, working vertically through the hole F, allows the entire pressure from the foot to rest on the rubber cushion L, thus affording' all the welll-known advantages of an elastic support. The foot-piece and frame rock from side to side on the rubber as a support. This causes the foot-piece to vibrate laterally to a considerable distance each side of the stationary king-post, and as the extremity of the lever is carried with and by the foot-piece, the kin g-post is turned on its own axis and with it the axletree and wheels, precisely like a tiller, except that the lever is moved by the foot-piece instead of by hand.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the frame, consisting of the perforated plate B having the legs, feet, and fork, as described, with the solid piece, shown by Fig. 3, as and for the purposes herein set forth.

San Francisco, March 8, 1871.

DAVID KERR. ASA E. HOVEY.

Witnesses:

ALFRED Rrx, J. F. CowDERY. 

